Author: Sara_Estus

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Sara Estus – Week 13 Questions

What is the difference between a “working” and a “display” prototype?

               A working prototype functions with the game mechanics. It is often in rough shape and visual aesthetic due to the quick nature of wanting to work out the kinks of if and how the mechanics work. However, a display prototype is meant to be created to look as best as the game can, much like how the final product is expected to look.

What is required of a working prototype, and what might cause failure?

               A working prototype must have the basic needs that the mechanics determine, if you need to have a spinner, for example, that is something required. However, a failure can take place if the spinner is a makeshift creation, and it may function poorly creating lacking results in playtesting.

Where might you pitch your game?

In a school setting, you can pitch ideas to professors and your peers, to personally get feedback from a community you are familiar with. However, on a larger scale, you can pitch your ideas to gameboard companies, and companies that have created games like your own.

What do publishers look for in a game?

High quality, clear rules and game flow, good concept, and little to no flaws in gameplay.

What makes a good set of Rules?

               Rules that are concise, easily readable, straightforward, and not overwhelming.  While rule quantity can change depending on the age group, quality, and readability should not change

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Trolls Riddle Run – Game Review – Sara Estus

1.) Most Frustrating moment or aspect: The riddles are so clever, and for me, it was more getting moved back during gameplay. I think it happened often enough I was frustrated, but it’s a good part of the game. Nothing unintentional that frustrated me!

2.) Favorite moment or aspect of the game?: I enjoyed the aspect of the chance cards a lot. It spiced things up and it wasn’t all about riddles

3.) Anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?: Get all the riddles right at the end!! I got the first one right, and then lost at the second, making me go all the way back. 🙁

4.) If you could change anything about the game would you?: I want to clarify that I do not think the riddles should change. I think it is more a player error of not being able to answer them right easily. Though I do think for those players, maybe having levels of cards to pick from could help. But then I fee like everyone would pick easy cards.

5.) What should be improved for the next version?: Add more riddles!

6.) Describe the game in three words: Dad Joke Trolls

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Week 8 Questions – Sara Estus

  • What is the difference between a game designer and a game developer?

A game designer creates the basics of how a game looks and feels in a player’s hands or on a table, but a game developer is the one who gets through the nitty gritty parts of rules, mechanics, and functionality.

  • What commonly occurs during the game development process?

Deciding rules, mechanics, and the modifications needed for those parts to work as desired. There is also often a lot of trial and error and prototyping.

  • What are the challenges of balancing a game?

You must be able to scale how much freedom and power players have in games, how much can they really bend the limits of the rules, and the challenge behind maintaining the balance is to maintain the integrity of the goal and process of the game getting there.

  • What should every player of your game believe? Why?

For me, I often struggle with getting through certain tasks for games. I can get easily frustrated. For my playtesting, I feel that being able to hold players accountable for their choices and give them the motivation to keep going regardless of whether it looks like they will win or not is a big thing I want players to believe.  

  • How can you avoid stealing players’ fun?

Don’t make games so easy to win right away for one player

  • What 10 maxims should you follow when writing rules?
  • A clear objective · 2. Constraints · 3. Interactivity · 4. Runaway leader killer · 5. Inertia · 6. Surprise · 7. Strategy · 8. Fun. 9. Flavor 10. A Hook
  • Question Set 2
  • How has play testing changed your game?

It has allowed me to see new ways mechanics can be used as well as rules

  • who from class would you like to playtest your next game or version 2 of your first game?

Amber, I haven’t played her first game, and she hasn’t played mine either. I have only seen the gameplay a little and I’m super interested in it

  • Who is the audience for your game?

For the first game, with AI called Academic Integrity, really all ages, younger people will have an easier time though, but for the second game “A Box for my Trinkets” is young adults, as there are too many small pieces.

  • Who should playtest your game outside of class?

I want to see some of the media arts faculty play Academic Integrity, I think it would be so fun and silly

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Sara Estus – To Feed or Not to Feed Game Review

1.) Running out of food tokens was hard, I think it changed the game a lot

2.) I enjoyed that it was repayable through shuffling the deck after rounds!

3.) I wish I could have interacted more with the animals I had, rather than just feeding them and putting them to the side.

4.) More food tokens, and maybe more animals?

5.) I think the animal cards having more purpose, and that there should be more food tokens as stated above!

6.) Animals Very Hungry

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Sara Estus – Builder Buccaneers Game Review

1.) Trying to be super quick with building! It’s part of the game so I enjoyed it, but that can be hard sometimes to build fast.

2.) I enjoyed the aspect of having a range of different levels to build, with the levels reflecting super well with the building difficulty.

3.) Play the game longer, I felt like it ended super early, but for a prototype I’d say that’s good for further trial and error!

4.) A bigger board, with obstacles, pirates, treasure and different levels of difficulty.

5.) The length of the game and the board, as my previous comments on why.

6.) Fast Building Ships

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Sara Estus – King of Tokyo and Bohnanza Reviews

King of Tokyo:

Was it fun? – I do think the game was fun, though it felt short, I did enjoy playing it and winning!

What were the player interactions? – after we had figured everything out, we just started attacking each other, in-game and verbally. I did enjoy the uniqueness of the game pieces like the player card with the life and the little green power cubes though.

How long did it take to learn? – I think the rules made it more complicated than it needed to be, taking us more time to figure out the specifics than playing the game it feels.

Would you play it again? – I think so, though it’s not really my type of game, I do enjoy the competitive aspect of it

Analyze the game using the 3-act structure. – Learning the rules and establishing them in the game, then playing the game as we understood it and interacting with the board, hearts, and ability cards, the lastly winning battles in the game and eliminating players, and I WON

What is the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? – the game is all about competition, battling over who will be the king of Tokyo, it came down to trying to save hearts, use abilities to your advantage, and then trying to win

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? – can you become the one and only king of Tokyo? The mechanic that stood out the most to me was the factor of how you could lose hearts, though you can gain them back with ability cards, it felt like it was a constant process to try to keep your hearts.

Bohnanza:

Was it fun? – I think the game was okay, I enjoyed the art more than playing the game

What were the player interactions? – trading cards, growing beans, and trying to keep similar cards. I think I enjoyed that aspect the most as I was with my friends, so it was easy to trade.

How long did it take to learn? – It was pretty confusing, we needed a lot of help at first but after we got it, it wasn’t too bad to play

Would you play it again? Yes, we didn’t play the whole length of the game, as we were supposed to get through the deck three times, and we only did it once.

Analyze the game using the 3-act structure. – Learning the game, and setting everything up, then beginning the step-by-step process each player is intended to do each turn, then gathering money by selling beans.

What is the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? – We collaborated the most by trading and gifting cards but competed by trying to get the most money from selling the beans

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? – “to bean or not to bean” The mechanic that stood out to me the most was the factor of gathering matching cards and trying to trade cards with the other players. I felt like not a lot of other games we have played have a positive aspect to player interaction with each other while maintaining the need to individually win

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Sara Estus – 5 Collecting Games

  1. Forager – This game is about gathering different types of mushrooms, using a board and little tokens with small mushroom drawings on them, the idea of the game is to collect similar edible mushroom species. However, there are many chances to stumble upon toxic mushrooms! If you accidentally gather a toxic species, you will lose several mushrooms in your basket written on the token – i.e.: Ink Cap Mushroom = Lose 3. The board is set up with multiple sections where mushrooms will grow, these “Forests” can provide more opportunities for gathering similar mushrooms, but you can only be in the same forest for two turns. This game is very similar to Takenoko
  • A Box for my Trinkets! – This game is about collecting trinkets, each player has a unique box where they will collect and hold their trinkets, however, you are given one “style card” that will vaguely tell you what size, style, and type of trinkets you can collect. Don’t worry though, there will be dozens of trinkets that can fit these requirements, it’s all about trading, bargaining, and gifting your fellow collectors (other players). Such as when they want to trade you have to give them something in exchange. Other players will not be able to tell what trinkets you have, and you’re meant to keep them a secret! The goal to win the game is to have a box full of trinkets that fit your “style card” and a special trinket that is golden – your most prized possession.
  • Green Thumb – A game about having a lot of houseplants, but only a little bit of room! The idea of this game is that you start with 4-5 house plants, You’ll begin with a room space with a window and some shelves, At the beginning of the game, you get a few plants that will tell you where your plants go in the room if you have the space, correct lighting, and proper temperature, your plants have a good chance of surviving. Now the idea of the game is to fill the space and keep your plants alive, the greener the better! Once you have filled your space and feel that your plants are of the highest quality of life, you win! However, there are many opportunities for pests to infect your plants, plants of optimal quality will begin to flower and spread – or cuttings will need to be harvested. This factor will be decided by chance, and each player will have a different affect happen every two turns.
  • Media – Mediums – A game about gathering up different experiences through trying new art mediums. Each player will begin the game with one art medium that they are good at, and throughout the game, they will have to gather different unique art mediums that can not only benefit the medium they have already mastered but also create something that represents all mediums and their uniqueness. (This game is more of a long-term commitment, so I’m not sure how well this would work irl)
  • To be a Frog – Though this game a self-explanatory, this game is about being a frog. You must establish an area in the pond where you will eat, sleep, and lay your eggs. The way to achieve this is to collect lily pads for your pond and ensure you have eaten enough flies to establish your area and avoid predators. At the beginning of the game you will start with a card that explains what your frog has as skills, are you able to eat more than 4 flies? Are you a poisonous frog that can ward off predators more easily than others? The way to win this game is to establish your home, create future generations, and establish a food source.
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Sara Estus – Game setup (prototype 1)

Academic Integrity:

  • Set up: 400 Art Cards, 100 topic cards, 20 of each topic including, plants, animals, people, food, and objects. Card Key (it tells you if the cards are AI or not)
  • Players will set up by passing out 5 topic cards, and 5 art cards, then place both piles facedown in the middle of the playing space.
  • Objectives: One player, following a counterclockwise play, will choose one topic card for players to fulfill, matching the topic, The cards will specifically say something like “I am looking for something to eat for dinner, can you give me options?” and players are tasked with fulfilling the task by placing a card with food illustrated on it. However, these cards can be either AI-generated or created by a real artist via photography or drawing, it is the player who chooses the topic’s job to pick a card that they believe is not AI-generated. The goal to win is to have the most topic cards filled with non-AI-created illustrations, the player with the most non-AI-created cards wins (probably a max of 15 cards)
  • Actions: In the first round, players will be given 10 cards, the oldest player goes first, followed by a counterclockwise play after their turn. The player going first will choose a topic card from their pile, they can choose a new topic card, but they must discard an art card to do so. After picking a topic card, they will read it aloud and place it in the middle of the play area, then every other player is meant to best fulfill the topic ex “I am looking for something to eat for dinner, can you give me options?” the players will attempt to choose ONE card that fits this topic, thinking about if the art on the card is AI, or not. There can be a chance that no card fulfills the topic, so they can draw a new card, but must discard a topic card. After each player places their art card, FACE DOWN, the player who chose the topic will look at all the cards and choose which card they like the most or believe to not be AI.
  • Ending the game: Once at least one player gets 15 cards that fulfill their topics, each player will spread out their cards and one player will get a key that will tell the players if their cards were AI or not. The player with the most non-AI cards wins.

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Sara Estus – 5 Games, one theme: ART

Game Theme: Art

Academic Integrity: This game is inspired by a thread of comments between Amber and me on last week’s game ideas, for this game, players are given a handful of 5 cards that have a multitude of different topics illustrated on them, such as animals, food, people, plants, and objects.  One player, following a counterclockwise play, will choose one topic card for players to fulfill, matching the topics mentioned before. The cards will specifically say something like “I am looking for something to eat for dinner, can you give me options?” and players are tasked with fulfilling the task by placing a card with food illustrated on it. However, these cards can be either AI-generated or created by a real artist via photography or drawing, it is the player who chooses the topic’s job to pick a card that they believe is not AI-generated. The goal to win is to have the most topic cards filled with non-AI-created illustrations.

Art School (Bringing this back from week 3) is a card game where players must collaborate to create a piece of art that fulfills a specific category. However, the difficult part is that only one player knows the category, for example, “Mythical Beast” and the player who knows the category can only give one-word hints. The drawing must be done in a quick passing style, with the player who knows the category only getting 10 seconds to draw, as the round progresses, each player gets 10 more seconds added until 3 minutes is up. After the time is up, players must write on a separate paper what they think the category was, and the closet gets a point. **Further explanation: As this is a super quick game, I think changing it up a little and implementing a level to the categories, like some that are very specific, like “Snail” or “Pancake Stack” would be fun to make it have more playability for those who aren’t confident in drawing, but it would be cool for it to also have a different point value when compared to broader categories.

“Art Noted” a scavenger game (Bringing this back from week 1) Students are given a small photo of a close-up image taken of an art piece on campus, they are given one hint on its location in the style of a riddle and then they must try to find the piece based on knowledge of the area and the riddle.  Students can work in teams for time’s sake. If they find the piece, they win a point. The first to get 5 points wins! **This is meant to drive students to become more aware of campus art** I received the AMC Experience Design scholarship, and this goes similarly with my plan for the scholarship, so I want to note that there are hundreds of pieces of public art on campus! Including the rules stated above, along with the understanding of the vast variety of art, I think sticking to only faculty and student-made art would be a priority, and creating cards that show more information on the art would encourage more awareness of the art on campus!

“I promise we are artists” is a Pictionary game, but we suck at drawing! (Bringing this back from week 1) One student is given a card with an object, animal, or thing and is tasked with drawing it on a piece of paper without lifting the pencil, and they can’t look when they are drawing it. They have 30 seconds to complete their new portfolio-worthy masterpiece, and the other players must guess what the thing is without hints. **I want to add an even more fun factor to it, and it’s that we must critique in front of the class when we present the art, I think having students also re-drawing the piece with needed time to compare would be super fun as well

Gallery Guess Who: A twist on the classic “Guess Who” game, players will ask questions to figure out the artist or artwork. Include facts about styles, including a list to assist players (with examples) periods with a timeline, and techniques used by the artist. It may be easier for artistic students but can be playable for anyone as it will include as much information reasonably way, while still including the style of the original Guess Who.

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Sara Estus – Takenoko Review

  1. Was it fun?  Yes, I felt like the game was entertaining and enjoyable! I have a soft spot for playing plant-based games, and the unique pieces and art made the experience more enjoyable! The game included an adorable comic about the story behind the characters in the game (A panda and a bamboo farmer) so the added lore to the game was a nice touch.
  2. What were the players’ interactions? Like most games, diving into a game with quite a few pieces and a very specific rule and guideline book is always a little intimidating, but I’m super biased at this point and will always agree that Amber does a fantastic job of explaining the rules and assuring the game is played. Although there was one rule, we didn’t realize was incorrect until the game was a fair way through irrigation channels, we eventually agreed to play the game (still incorrect) but as we were before.  The most difficult part of the game was completing the tasks we needed to get points, but it was super fun once we got the hang of taking turns and fulfilling task cards.
  3. How long did it take to learn? I would say about 10-15 minutes, Amber was super concise with the rules, so questions were asked, and as far as the basic understanding we started the game quickly, learning a bit on the way and getting the hang of it by the mid-game.
  4. Would you play it again? Absolutely, this game is so so fun and cute and I was actually trying to find it over the weekend to buy it!
  5. Analyze the game using the 3-act structure: Act 1: Establishing the game, the pieces, and the idea of task cards. This beginning was not as rough as some beginnings of games can be that I have experienced. It was all about placing tiles and getting tasks at this point. Act 2: At this point, we all started to focus on completing tasks, the difficult part is deciding which task to do, as some are more complicated than others. Act 3: This is where it was sort of obvious who was winning and who was behind. I had focused a lot of time on one task, which I believe was my downfall. Collin ended up winning with lots of points, as he focused on getting as many tasks as possible completed.
  6. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? The game is highly competitive, with players trying to get the most points from task cards, but it is also collaborative in a way, as certain moves you can do, such as placing tiles, or choosing where to move the panda can help other complete their tasks, on purpose or not!
  7. What is the game’s metaphor, and which mechanics stand out? In researching the meaning of Takenoko, which means “Bamboo child” – referring to the strong bamboo sprout that can grow 1.5 inches in an hour. Takenoko is about growing and spreading regardless of barriers that might attempt to prevent one’s growth. Throughout the gameplay, we never ran out of bamboo, even though we removed a lot of it from the board by “eating it” as the panda. I think the mechanic of never losing a feature of the game, no matter how much is going on, really brings not only the metaphor to life but also an aspect of never being done with the game.
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Sara Estus – Pandemic Game Review

Was it fun?

I do think Pandemic was fun, although the aspect of reading a lot of rules and conditions in a game is often pretty daunting, it was interesting to see the different aspects of how we can win and lose in the game. I think what would make it more fun would be to win the game

What were the players’ interactions?

We spent a lot of time trying to plan out our moves before we decided to follow through with them. Collin made a lot of good choices throughout leading the team, but I think our flaw was just not fulfilled playing the game with confidence

Would you play it again?

Yes, though the irony of the Covid Pandemic was a little goofy, it is an interesting game to play and collaborate on

How long did it take to learn?

We spent about 15 minutes trying to figure it all out but got the hang of it in the first 10 minutes of genuine playtime.

Analyze the game using the 3-act structure.

Act one was primarily about us getting our roles and firsthand of cards, we went around and figured out what our roles allowed us to do Act two was when the game got into the spreading of the disease cubes, and we were losing a lot of confidence in winning. By Act Three we were succumbing to losing, which we did.

What is the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?

The pandemic is very collaborative! The only way to win is to team up and take out the disease cubes.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?

“Can you save humanity?”  The biggest mechanic that stood out to me was only certain player roles could travel the board in specific ways, I have not seen that mechanic used in board games before.

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Sara Estus – Game Ideas Week 3

Art School is a card game where players must collaborate to create a piece of art that fulfills a specific category. However, the difficult part is that only one player knows the category, for example, “Mythical Beast” and the player who knows the category can only give one-word hints. The drawing must be done in a quick passing style, with the player who knows the category only getting 10 seconds to draw, as the round progresses, each player gets 10 more seconds added until 3 minutes is up. After the time is up, players must write on a separate paper what they think the category was, and the closet gets a point.

The Journey is a tile-placing game in which the players will randomly select a role in which they must work together to escape an area (the tiles) think escape room, but it is super small, and each player has a different skill and ability, like players who pull a ‘water’ role card can move things on the tile that are blue. The tiles are around 1’x1’ and have a multitude of random obstacles that limit players from passing through and only certain players can move certain things. This game is meant to go off the saying “It’s not about the journey, it’s about the friends we made along the way”

Convince Me! Is a card game where players must collaborate to convince the “Founder” player to fund their creation. The players who are the “Makers” are given a spread of 10 cards face down that all have bizarre pictures of creations on them, the creations are machines or products that aren’t real, and the cards contain 3 things that the creation can do, players who are “makers” must pick ONE card and ONE of the purposes of their creation and convince the “Founder” The players who are the “Makers” must agree on one of the cards to pick, and can ‘reselect’ their creation based on voting in the group. The collaborative part begins when players must agree to the different prospects of their creation, and they must agree on when the price for their creation is fair.

Stow Away is a fast-paced card game where players are split into two teams, the stowaway and the security. The game is set up with one side sitting across from each other. The setup begins with one side taking a ‘place card’ for each player and that will be where they are hiding. The place cards have a picture of the hiding location, a visibility score of 1-5 (1 being out of sight and 5 being practically out in the open) and they have a perk written on them that explains the abilities positive and negative of the spot. The security players’ setup begins with receiving their specific security roles as well as their ‘location cards’ that will give them a general location that they are securing. The idea of the game is for the stowaways to remain hidden without causing suspicion and for the security to find the stowaways before the cargo is delivered. Through the gameplay, stowaways will attempt to help each other hide by giving up their hiding spots, creating diversions and distractions, and staying completely silent! For security, they will team up to search larger areas, use perks like flashlights and search dogs to find clues and find the stowaways, all while openly communicating the whole game!

Trial by Combat is a board game with four corners where players must compete in a rock-paper-scissors style fight to cover the most spaces on the board with their color, the winner will not only need to have the most color on the board but also be able to beat at least 2 other players in combat to win the game. The rock-paper-scissors comes into play as each player will have a draw pile and discard pile where they will pick up three cards with random items, food, tools, and animals that they can use to win a battle, an example being, drawing a lion card, and being able to beat sheep, pig, and deer cards, versus picking a pig card, and beating a stew card, versus picking a stew card and being a freezing cold card. The list goes on!

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Sara Estus – DiXit

“DiXit” Review and Three- Act Structure

Was it Fun?

While Dixit is pretty simple, I find that super charming about it! I enjoy that it’s about art and interpretation, but also about how well your friends can be about giving simple hints.

What was the interaction?

Amber read the rules and explained the game super well, we quickly played it and enjoyed it, all wanting to play again so it was a very positive experience compared to Fluxx

How long did it take to learn?

It took maybe 5 minutes to learn, including setting it up and shuffling the cards

Would you play again?

Absolutely, I really enjoyed how simple it was, but how complicated it could be with who was playing

Act 1-

Getting the ropes of the game and figuring out how to play. We were a little confused on the voting aspect, but quickly got the hang of it

Act 2-

Once we realized we could be as vague or easy as we wanted with the hint we all got really into it, almost neck and neck with the points.

Act 3-

The game felt like it kinda ended abruptly, but we all enjoyed the points system, the voting and the art! 30 points to win does not feel like a lot though!

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Sara Estus – Week 2 Questions

Question Set One:

  • If I made a game where the theme was around size, some mechanics I’d implement would be challenges through areas that normal-sized people could not go, such as adventuring through a mouse hole, or attempting to pass through a garden that feels like a jungle very ‘Honey I shrunk the kids’ – I know, but I think making it more of a journey like the “secret life of Arrietty would be fun”. Though these are usual and expected mechanics, more unexpected would be the implementation of being practically invisible and harmed by the elements easier.
  • I am making games for my friends and family. I enjoy the competition between people I know, but I also enjoy playing and picking on them without them thinking I mean harm. It’s so fun to tease and taunt!
  • Friends and Family.

Question Set Two:

  • I feel like games that are often made in a series like Animal Crossing are ones I have never really referred to the rules for, I have played all the games since the first one was made, and the mechanics have only improved, but are always common sense, so I would often skip the tutorials and figure it out. In physical games, I would say as a child it was the game memory, cause, duh.
  • How I define a game is by its ability to captivate a player or audience for some time, to convey a message or a task to the player(s).
  • I think the feature that would make my games more intuitive would be to make my games look more attractive and pleasing to look at. I have not had a lot of time to create art for my games, hopefully, I will be able to.

Question Set Three:

  • My gateway game was Animal Crossing on the GameCube (2001). I grew up always watching my older sister play video games, and one day I grew tired of being player 2, so Animal Crossing allowed me to be player 1 with no questions asked.
  • Gateway games are games that are easy to get into without any hassle of needing extra time and preparation to become skilled at the game. They are games that can be played and learned quickly and can be enjoyed regardless of the pace the player chooses to play in.